Up at 05:30 this morning for Jai to start preparing food the day to take out to the farm with us. Part of the deal about employing people to labour for you is that you feed them twice.With everything prepared we ride out to the farm about 6:30 and Jai starts to get breakfast for everyone whilst I head straight out into the fields. We ate breakfast about 1 hour ago there seems little point in eating again now when we could all be working before the sun gets too strong. My priorities are all wrong and food and chatter comes first.I spend about an hour cutting the rice on my own before anyone else shows up in the fields. By the time they are starting I am thinking about having a break ! I struggle on until about 10:00 then finish. Returning to the house for a shower and change I come into Phon Thong to check e-mails but nothing has arrived yet. No surprise there then

.Back home to a lazy afternoon stretched out in the garden with a book but already my back is starting to ache. The rice seems to have produced a great crop this year but with weighty ears and the winds of a few weeks ago most of the rice is lying on the floor making it extra difficult to cut.About 3:30 I head back out to the farm and put in another 2 hour stint before everyone calls it a night. Jai's eldest sister, who is 58, actually points me to the easier piece of the field where the rice is standing up a little. Being helped out by someone 10 years my senior .... I have no pride so am quite happy about it really !! There are lots of moans and groans as we all make our way back.Early night to bed.